The Hunt for the Mountain Giant
A Hunters' Moon Story
Maelos and Voth, guided by their warlord Trenuir, set out into the mountains to find a giant that has been terrorizing local tribes and travelers. When they suddenly lose the trail at nightfall, they receive help from the unlikeliest of creatures.
Read the previous chapter here to get caught up!
The Last Night of a King
Maelos has discovered the person possessing the mysterious blasphemies of the worm. Will he, however, be able to convince everyone else of this bizarre truth and reveal the culprit behind the princess Belsneyg’s murder?
A flock of vultures gorged greedily on the remains putrefying in the yellow grass atop a dusty plateau. They supped even as three youths ascended the eastern slope behind them. One neared his full manhood, his age plain from his black beard and experience from the scars on his tanned skin. The other two were twins with short, tawny hair; their faces and flesh had yet to be hardened the same way as their elder. Skins of animals draped their shoulders and hung off their belts in addition to woolen garb. They each carried a spear tipped with bronze and, sharp swipes from the butts of their weapons, drove the carrion-feasters away. The black, stinking throng of feathers cleared to reveal the fouler remains in the brittle, yellow grass. They were pulpy and discolored; scraps lay scattered around, left behind in the wake of the scavengers. The skull and full shape of the corpse betrayed it as a human.
Trenuir, warlord of the Gilded Kestrels warband, nodded to the body. Maelos and Voth, the twins, steeled themselves against the smell and approached without question or protest.
“Tell me what happened,” Trenuir instructed as the lads stifled coughs, kneeling beside the gore.
“The vultures claimed a great deal of it,” said Maelos. “Even its clothes are in pieces. But there are no weapons or tools.” The lad frowned. “This could be that girl who was lost after she went to gather water.”
Voth prodded the shattered ribcage, held partially together by a mortar of browning meat. “The ribs are broken and the heart is gone, just like the others.”
Trenuir nodded. “What else do you see?”
The twins stared at the corpse, grimacing as they endured the odor through shallow breaths. They shifted and shuffled some of the remains all while they crouched and hopped around the body just as the vultures had done moments before.
Eventually, Trenuir folded his arms and cleared his throat. “Not just on the carcass.”
“Ah,” Maelos blurted as he turned his attention to the brittle ground. Rain had been lacking as the summer drew on, and the ground sighed with dusty clouds under each step trodden upon it. All the grass around the body was crumpled and lay broken in the dust beneath the blades. Squinting at some of the patches above the skull, Maelos carefully brushed his hand over the indentations.
“Tracks,” he muttered, shuffling closer to them. Voth moved parallel with his twin as he kept on the other side of the trail. They followed it to the edge of the plateau, which ended at a craggy cliff. Beneath it sprawled a gully of black stones cast with sparse shade from crooked, leafless trees. Further still, the rocky gulph ran towards a pair of mountains coated in green.
Maelos and Voth peered over the plateau, perched on its edge. Blood spatters speckled the faces of the stones immediately below them. Large footprints embedded in the dust between the rocks; the trail vanished within the valley of dust and stone. The twins points to it and looked back at their warlord.
Trenuir allowed himself a small smile of approval before approaching them, sidestepping the remains. “Now we can follow,” he declared.
The three of them descended the crag and began their trek through the gully. Heat snaked up from the stones in thick lines, its oppression heightened by the dust stirred with each step. The sky held the wind and clouds back, lending no cool sigh to ease the sting of the sun peering down from its azure robe. The twins each heaved frustrated gasps and itched the backs of their necks, already turning pink in the unrelenting beams.
Trenuir merely wiped his brow while saying, “Each new summer is getting warmer. I warrant winters won’t even be around soon so we might rest.”
“How wonderful it would be to have a never-ending season of hunting,” said Maelos. “Even in summer it must rain a bit, however.”
“Someone must not be making the right sacrifices to the Sky Father.” Voth daubed his eyes with the neck of his tunic. “Or his Son of the Storm.”
Trenuir laughed. “Or the Sky Father is testing us by seeing how well we can stand his radiant bride. You wouldn’t let her deter you from this hunt, would you?”
The twins said nothing more as they followed the trail into the growing shade of the trees around the base of the mountain. The boughs offered some relief from the sun and its descent even allowed infrequent gusts to roll in from the south. The trail of footprints and blood spatter, however, vanished within the softer forest floor. Maelos and Voth immediately sought after the spoor, but eventually looked to Trenuir, their faces frozen in quizzical masques.
The warlord met his pupils’ eyes with an expectant expression. “What do we do when we lose the trail?”
“Lead the game towards us?” asked Maelos.
“Find the beast’s lair!” blurted Voth.
They glanced at each other, brows furrowed. Trenuir prodded them with another question before they started arguing: “What have the people we spoke to said about this thing?”
“It is like a man,” Maelos answered. “It is big and has shaggy red hair. They say its howls from the mountain on the nights before it attacks.”
Trenuir nodded. “Good. Now, you discerned some things we can look for since we cannot see any tracks right now.”
“What things?” asked Voth, his brow furrowing deeper.
“Hair!” said Maelos. “And howling, or whatever other noises it may make.”
Voth laughed. “If we hear howling it would be too late, and it would surely get us!”
Maelos frowned. “It would not! We could outpace it.” He paused and looked up at Trenuir. “We could, could we not?”
Trenuir shrugged. “I have not seen this creature before; I do not know how fast it runs.”
Maelos pressed his concerns: “But—”
“‘Do not let is catch you,’ is the sole wisdom I can offer.” Trenuir pointed towards the woods. “Now, see if you can find the trail again.”
The search proceeded as the sun arched over the woods and neared its retirement by the mountain peaks. More wind whispered through the trees and the birdsong turned low and brooding. The twins bickered as they headed the inquest; Voth several times mistook reddening moss for the crimson hair of the giant whilst Maelos urged the party to follow any rustling in the underbrush. It took all of Trenuir’s patience to keep their spats scarce, but his stealing of glances up at the darkening sky increased all the while. The twins made a nonsensical path, leading them west and south, away from the mountains although they each guessed the beast might have made its lair upon the slopes. The shadows between the trees thickened; the spaces through the forest gave way to the gloaming, limiting the hunters’ sight. The twins as well grew silent as darkness fell, the last remnants of light crawling behind the peaks, followed by a blue-green ring haloing the sky.
Maelos looked up at the sky, halted, then turned to his leader. “Are we lost, Trenuir?” he asked, boyish worry tinging his words.
“I remember the way back,” Trenuir said with a sigh. “We ought to make camp elsewhere, for these trees are too—”
“Look!” Voth thrust his spear towards the trees ahead. A shape hung upside down from the branches about fifteen cubits above the ground. It looked as if it were a person with a short cloak pulled close around them, however, it had hooked claws instead of feet wrapped around the thick of a branch. Long, shaggy hair hung down from its head, on either side of which jutted a pair of long, conical ears. The creature twitched and shivered as it swayed from the tree.
Maelos stared at it, mouth agape.
Trenuir reached for Voth’s shoulder, but the boy jumped forward, turning his grip upon his spear. “I’ll bring it down myself!” he hissed and hurled it up at the creature.
The thing unfurled a pair of leathery, brown wings in place of upper limbs, spreading them almost twice as long as the boys’ arms outstretched. It detached from the branch and narrowly swopped past the spear as it sailed into the underbrush. Voth only retreated several steps before the creature descended upon him; he fell on his back with a shout. The thing leaned over him, digging its claws into the earth. Animal pelts covered its torso, the approximate size and shape of a human’s. Its hair dangled before his eyes; glimpses of a pale, slim face showed between the strands.
Trenuir raised his spear up as the thing leaned its face closer to Voth’s. Suddenly, a high-pitched young woman’s voice demanded, “Why did you so rudely awaken me?” The creature spoke.
Voth kicked away from the thing. She put up no obstacles but glowered at him with large, greenish eyes through her locks. “What are you?” he asked as he caught his breath.
The creature shook her head. “I am not just some beast, but if it would please you, some tribes near the sea call my people Erinuwe.”
“A deity from the caves.” Trenuir lowered his spear and stepped beside Voth.
The Erinuwe cast her gaze groundward. “Well, I would hardly consider myself a ‘deity…’”
“No matter that.” Voth rose and jabbed a finger at the Erinuwe. “Do you mean us any harm?”
“I do not, so long as you mean none to me.”
“Excuse my brother,” Maelos offered, approaching with hand outstretched. “We are looking for a creature causing trouble with the tribes around here. It looks like a big man with red hair.”
The Erinuwe loosed a shrill squeak and hopped backwards. “The Old Red Man? You are seeking him?”
“You know of the giant?” Maelos asked.
“Too well,” answered the Erinuwe. “Mother says I should always stay with the cloud when it grows dark so he won’t catch me.” She looked up at the sky and squeaked again. “I’ve slept too long! I must go before the Red Man comes down. Mother must already be worrying for me.”
“Do you know where to find the giant?” Trenuir pointed towards the mountains.
The Erinuwe shuffled in place. “I do, but I really must be away. It is dangerous to be out when the Red Man begins his hunt.”
“We have not heard him howl yet,” said Voth. “We ought to be well for now. Can you bring us to him before he finds us, bat-girl?”
The Erinuwe huffed. “My name is Sempheth, little thumper. And yes, I could bring you, but why should I?”
“Why do we mean to find the giant, lads?” inquired Trenuir.
“To bring down the game!” Maelos and Voth raised their fists in the air.
Sempheth shifted in place again. “Well, if you can bring him down, it would put an end to the cloud’s fear of flying around here at night.”
Trenuir added, “Even if we cannot slay him tonight, surely my warband could finish whatever we start.”
“You thumpers are very bold.” Sempheth brough a talon at the end of her left wing to her small chin. “I will lead you to him, but I am not sure what aid I can offer once the fighting starts.”
“We will make it quick.” Voth clapped a fist into his palm, grinning.
Trenuir laughed. “Let us make it quicker than it took to find the trail again. Go get your spear.”
***
After the twins and Trenuir gave Sempheth their names, she led them to the mountain rising in the northwest. She sailed from branch to branch, each beat of her large wings sending down a gust of tepid night air laced with the deep, churning scent of the trees. Often, she let out squeaks before gliding to her next landing.
Voth voiced his frustration with the noises, saying, “You’ll draw the giant to us if you keep that up.”
Sempheth glared down from one branch she alighted upon and retorted, “It lets me see things farther than my eyes can, little thumper. I will know if he is coming before he can even spy us.”
“Would that any of us hunters had that skill,” said Maelos.
The party ascended the slopes just as the moon cast its silver-blue light through the boughs. The three on the ground followed Sempheth’s form flitting across the beams as they groped and shuffled across the earth and stones. The twins heaved as they had during the day, but kept any complaints in their throats.
As the party rounded a bald cliff on the slope, Sempheth landed on a crackling patch of moss. “The Old Red Man’s cave is just past those trees,” she said, gesturing to a copse beyond the cliff. “I am not sure what other help I can lend within.”
“We may need you yet if his cave is vast,” said Trenuir. “Ready the torches, lads.”
Maelos and Voth each drew a torch from a bundle on their belts and lit them with piece of flint scraped along their spearheads. Sempheth winced at the flames as they arose, but continued her flight as usual through the trees. At last, the party came before a cavemouth yawning in the side of the mountain. Crude paintings in rust red and coal black hues adorned the sides of the entrance. A smell like a huge, unwashed dog wafted into the already stuffy night air, eliciting gags from the twins and Sempheth.
“Lads,” Trenuir nodded to the cave, “go see what is within.”
The twins heeded their warlord and approached, adopting a slow heel-to-toe walk as they moved from the earth to the stone floor. They stopped short as a low, bellowing howl burst from the cavemouth and rang out over the mountain.
Read the next chapter here!
In the Giant's Cave
Trenuir, Maelos and Voth, with the aid of the strange bat-girl, Sempheth, have reached the mouth of their quarry’s cave. Will the icy hands of fear grip this troop as they venture into the darkness? What truly lurks down within the depths of the earth?
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“The Hunt for the Mountain Giant” © Ethan Sabatella 2025 – Current Year, All Rights Reserved. Reprinting or replication of this work in its entirety in any form (written, audiovisual, etc.) without express permission of the author is prohibited. Excerpts may be used for review or promotional purposes with credit and acknowledgement of the author. This piece cannot be used for training of Artificial Intelligence programs.
Excellent plotline. Looking forward to next installment. Question: Are the Erinuwe a derivation the Greek goddesses of vengeance.